Throughout the Middle Ages, household goods of all types were stored in boxes and coffrets which both protected the goods in the home and provided traveling cases on journeys. The great number of these of all sizes, shapes, and materials that have survived from the medieval period testify to this method of storage.

This small container may have been intended to hold rings, ring brooches, and other jewels or trinkets. The leather coffret, with a domed lid, has the inscription EINSE MOY, which might be translated as “follow me” or “do as i do,” probably a personal motto. Unfortunately, this inscription does not provide a clue to the specific use for which the container was intended.

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: Inscribed: (on edge of cover): EINSE / MOY

Provenance

George and Florence Blumenthal, Paris and New York (until 1941)

Exhibition History

New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens. "The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages," March 28, 1975–June 15, 1975.

New York. The Cloisters Museum & Gardens, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Treasures and Talismans: Rings from the Griffin Collection," May 1–October 18, 2015.

References

Husband, Timothy B., and Jane Hayward, ed. The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. no. 4a, p. 23.